Recently widowed, Emma Banefield looks forward to a getaway birthday weekend with her free-wheeling sister, Nicole Earp, sipping chocolate martinis at the peaceful, historic Dulce Inn. When a rude stranger, a nasty food critic, and a madhouse of temperamental artists greet them, all hope for a tranquil weekend evaporates faster than dew on a hot desert morning.
Overlooking the riotous atmosphere is doubly hard after Em discovers the body of a hotel guest, and a second murder affects Nic personally. Now, entrenched in a caper that pits them against a surly detective, they cozy up to a hotel staff hiding dangerous secrets to uncover clues to the killer.
Using their smarts and love of all-things mystery, will the Chocolate Martini Sisters solve the crime ahead of the obstinate Chief Detective or find themselves trapped in the middle of a third murder?
Joyce Proell is the award-winning author of Amaryllis, Eliza and the Cady Delafield mysteries: A Deadly Truth, A Burning Truth and A Wicked Truth. Along with her husband and little dog, Nellie, she lives in Minnesota in her very own little house on the prairie. She loves to hear from readers.
Brenda Whiteside is the award-winning author of romantic suspense, romance, and cozy mystery. After living in six states and two countries—so far—she and her husband have settled in Central Arizona. They admit to being gypsies at heart and won’t discount the possibility of another move. They share their home with a rescue dog named Amigo. While FDW fishes, Brenda writes.
In nutshell, yes I do. Why? Because I feel that fate and destiny are two things that every soul, human, and person have a part to play in.
What is Fate, Though?
‘Fate’… meant to be, making things happen, this is also a verb in the dictionary defined as ‘to be destined to happen, turn out, or act in a particular way’. This means that ‘fate’ is an action, and action is something that is done, and what do we do as people= take action and do stuff both good or bad.
Given this basic way of looking at what fate is, to me it would appear that fate is a very real thing, and of course as a verb in this context you and I can have control over it to a certain extent. Not all the time of course, but sometimes based on the actions we take. The other way of looking at fate, where we don’t have control and things are ‘just meant to happen’ I still believe in, even if you remove the action part that a person can play. I feel this way as I believe in the laws of the universe you could say, and I do really believe in things like astrology and the ‘mystical and unexplainable’ side of life. I feel that the fate that we don’t have control over with our actions is down to things like this.
Destiny?
Yes, of course I believe in this because we all have a purpose, simply put. Which to me personally is your ‘destiny’ it’s your purpose, where you’re heading or not heading. Just like fate you can play a part in this, and the universe and unexplained things can also play a part.
I think the older I have got, the more I have been able to see that in reality we can all to some extent create the life, goals, dreams, ideas, or whatever it is that we strive for. Even in the face of adversity, all you need is careful planning, be prepared to keep working and I really mean this, and be willing to take a few risks, challenges, and not let fear guide you too much to the point you become stagnate and don’t reach for whatever it is you want. Given this, this is why I feel that fate and destiny are real, you can create them for yourself, and you are always supported by unexplained things along the way.
Should You Let Fate and Destiny Guide You?
Absolutely, embrace whatever comes your way in life good or bad. But I don’t believe in being ridged and not moving, thinking, or living outside of the ‘box’ that destiny and fate can create. By this I mean, oftentimes if we think or feel ‘this is meant to be’ or ‘this is my fate’ there is a chance we can become stuck on this, inflexible, and not open to what else may present itself or what you could take action to create! This is where I feel that fate and destiny should guide you … and that’s it guide you, not define or trap you.
Can you Change Your Fate or Destiny?
Yes, I would say so and I have even experienced this myself. This is what I call life’s U-turns. Like I said fate is a verb, an action, whatever you do as an action can become your destiny, so if you are not keen on the way your fate is looking, change your action and your destiny or even destination will change and you can move in a new direction, hence a change in fate and destiny. It’s called living and life LOL.
How Can You Be Sure of Your Fate or Destiny?
Mmm, I don’t really think you can as only two things in life are for sure death and paying taxes! So all a person can do is have an idea about these things and work towards the outcome (fate and destiny wise) they would like. If your actions are in alignment with the fate or destiny you want, there’s a likely chance your fate, destiny, and outcome will be desirable … hopefully.
Are Destiny and Fate linked to God or Religion?
Not for me no. I am of no real religion, in fact I’d say I am not religious but deeply believe in the spiritual side of things not linked to what we have been fed is ‘God’. My creator, or person in charge is not in alignment with what any mainstream religion would have you believe. Am I against it? Mmm, no it’s just not for me.
Do you believe in fate or destiny? Or is this just something people like to believe in?
I smiled as I read this morning’s prompt on my feed. Well, *pauses makes a face and pouts* to be honest with you, if I can’t include people which means my son, partner, sister, and dear friends are excluded and this is based on actual ‘things’ … lemme think, okay got it!
My Tablet:
I use it daily, and it has may most needed apps on Kindle ( for all my books I have in e-book version), game apps, ( I love to play Scrabble, Rummy, and Spades online), also applications for things like astrology, Netflix ( I recently started watching the series Outlander I’m addicted to it!), and my tablet has general nick-naks I use often. It also allows to me access to the Worldwide Web, YouTube, and the news applications. I actually prefer my tablet over my laptop, I just wish that it was more suitable to write on rather than be social. I guess I associate my laptop with work, and my tablet with downtime and fun. It was a hard decision between my phone or tablet, I went with tablet as I can still communicate with others using WhatsApp on the tablet, or even Skype if I had to.
My Radio
That’s right I can’t live without my ‘boom, boom box’ it’s not old school like this one, even though I do like them. A few years back maybe around 2020 I bought an Internet radio, I have discovered some wonderful radio stations all over the world. In my house, the radio is NEVER off it is always on on a low volume in either the bedroom, or the office I write in. I also sleep with the radio on downlow, I find it much preferable to have this background noise while going to sleep.
I like all kinds of music, and I mean all from chill-hop, or lounge music you’d hear at Starbucks, jazz, soul, rock, pop, there really is not a style I don’t like. Hmm, may be apart from probably very, very heavy metal or trance/dance music they are the only two I can’t and don’t listen to. I can always appreciate everything else in between.
I not only sleep to music, I write to music, read to music, cook to music, tidy up the house to music, drive to music, I literally do everything … with music.
Some of my favourite stations to listen to are:
Smooth FM ( London). I just love the variety of music from all decades, and it’s very relaxing to sleep to as the night shift DJs cater to the time of the evening/night it is.
Cherie FM ( France) to me this is like the equivalent of London’s Smooth FM. The difference is that in France they play one English song and then a French song. You get the best of both languages. Also, the music is much more random and varied than Smooth FM you will hear Rihanna, then you will hear something in a totally different genre I love it.
FIP Radio ( France) here they play everything from rap/hip-hop, jazz, classical piano, pop, reggae all one after the other! I love this station it is ‘random’, and so eclectic in terms of the music they play. They also don’t play songs that are played on mainstream radio I noticed, it’s always smaller independent artists that are hardly known.
Amazing Chill-Hop Radio ( New York). As it says on the tin, here it’s all instrumental ‘chilled’ music that ranges from jazz, hip-hop, soul, funk, beats I love it!
Smooth Jazz.com ( Florida) this station plays some of the smoothest, sleekest, funkiest, bestest ( if that’s a word) jazz my ears have ever heard, I love it.
90s RnB and Old School ( Germany) they play very early old school RnB, from artists that if you’re probably around thirty-five and over you will remember from your twenties, that are not around today. Wonderful station for a trip down memory lane.
LBC ( London) this is a talk show station, which gives commentary on current affairs.
BBC World News ( UK) this station broadcasts everything from documentaries, news bulletins, and author interviews for the BBC book club the first Sunday of each month. I particularly love to listen to the book club author interviews, I have picked up many new books from these interviews, I tend to buy them if I liked the author’s interview and how the book sounded. I also like to listen to the questions that readers can pose. I keep saying to myself I need to actively read along with the club, so that I can pose questions to the authors about the characters and plot myself. I also really, really, really enjoy the documentaries they broadcast from around the world, this is a station for the world, it’s very international with news and commentary.
There are many other stations, lots of them are independent ones from all corners of the world that I have discovered. I think that Internet radio really is the way forward if you are a music lover, if you don’t have one invest! They are pretty cheap too, I got mine on Amazon.
My Dishwasher!
So, three weeks ago I got a dishwasher for the first time in my life! I am telling you I can’t believe I got to the ripe ol’ age of forty and never used one. *Gasps* my mum never had one, I never grew up with one, but I think that had there be space in Mum’s kitchen in my childhood home ( that she lived in for fifty years), I bet Mum would have had one!
What made me get one? Well, we now have space at home in the kitchen for one and after speaking to others who do have them, I was sold on the idea! Ours is a really pretty black one it is gorgeous. It’s been three weeks of saving my nails from chipping, three weeks of having more time in the evening to spend with my family as the dishes are taken care of, and the big surprise? I have a saucepan that is older than my son, he’s nine, this saucepan must be anywhere from fourteen to sixteen years old. It’s part of a vegetable steamer set so I can cook rice at the bottom, and put the veggies to steam on the top. I got it in Lidl the store I think. So anyway, this pan is always ‘clean’ from handwashing it of course, but with one spin in the dishwasher it was shiny, looked brand new, and as if I had just taken the stainless steel item out of the packet! It had lost it’s luster and silver shine ( understandably look how old it is), now it looks like when I first got it, I was amazed. So yeah, now I have experienced family life with a dishwasher, I can’t live without mine it was so worth the money given the time it saves, and how well it cleans.
What about you, do you have a dishwasher? Is it just for ‘lazy’ people?
What three things can’t you live with out? Let me know.
You know as I sat down behind my laptop today, I only had one goal while I wait for a delivery: write a chapter! … or maybe two. The progression of the novel I am currently writing is in my head, but as always something will come up as I’m writing, and that one chapter goal may turn in to about two or three.
Before I set to work on this I wanted to just freely write, I don’t even have anything in particular to say other than, ‘hello March!’ This time of year I really enjoy as we move out of the cold and damp of winter ( in Europe), and move into spring-like weather. I also really enjoy watching the changes in nature take place. The start of a new month always brings some kind of intention setting for me, this month it is to work on writing more blogs, and return to book tour hosting for other authors, basically resuming to ‘service as normal’ before I took a break.
I cracked open my 365 days of writing prompts book from WordPress.com, dusted off the pages, and under today’s date the prompt is: Back to the future, write a message or send a letter to someone in the future! Great.
Dear President Zelenskyy,
It was so great to see you on the news the other day, announcing that the Ukraine has successfully overthrown all the drama that has been brought to its shores. How are your wife and children? I heard you mention once in an interview that you don’t get to see them often, are they well?
You know, now that you have reached this milestone, I started to wonder what it is that you would do next for the Ukrainian people? I imagined that maybe you would hold some kind of memorial service for those who lost their life in battle, and those who were victims of the unsuccessful Russian occupation, what do you think? Maybe you could even televise it as I’m sure others around the world would like to watch. What about the day that you were able to declare the war is over, just last week? Will you declare this some kind of national holiday for your country? It was also great to hear that the Ukraine has finally met all the criteria to become part of NATO. How about a book? Do you write at all? I’m sure you have plenty to say on how you managed the situation.
I never imagined in my lifetime that I would ever see something play out like a full scale attack on another country located in Europe, by one of its neighbours. I just want to say that as I have watched you on television, giving speeches, communicating with people in your country and around the world, and always wearing your army clothing while doing so! That I always felt you did a wonderful job as a president. You are a very young president also, this must have been such a challenge in your political career. Do you think you will run for another term? I’m not sure on how the presidential elections work in the Ukraine, but I hope that you consider it, after this success for your country I’m sure your people would welcome you. After all look what you have done for your country! You will surely go down in history as one of the Ukrainian’s most memorable presidents. Historically also, no doubt your name will be mentioned in books, records, and all kinds of places for being a president who overcome an attack on his country in the twenty-first century.
I really do hope that you are able to rebuild your country on a strong foundation, now that you are back in full control of it. The homes, businesses, and landscape that have been damaged I sincerely hope will flourish again for you.
Anyway, it was just a short letter of encouragement, congratulations, and support. Great job done! Good luck with whatever you do next in your political career, even if this means you step back and take a rest from it all. Give my love to your wife and children also. Keep well.
Well, as I wrote that I could not help hoping that this is a real manifestation for the Ukraine, that they reclaim what is rightfully theirs and they rebuild all that has been lost. I still find it hard to believe that it’s been one whole year since the war against the Ukraine started. I’m still at a loss to fully understand why this is necessary. I will say that the aid other countries have provided has been good, and while there might be pressure from other countries to supply what is need in terms of weapons to the Ukraine, I can full understand the hesitancy to do so. The backlash could be very real, and before we know if other counties are also attacked. My thoughts continue to go out to those in the Ukraine, and their president.
Happy 1st of March! I hope it’s a wonderful month for you, what are your plans? Do you set intentions?
Author, Kim Knight 